Columbus on list of 'dropout factories'

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2007 at 11:18 AM

At 14 of Columbus' 17 high schools, nearly 40 percent or more of the students who started as freshmen have disappeared before graduation day, a trend that's affecting about 1 out of 10 public high schools statewide, a new analysis has found.

At 14 of Columbus' 17 high schools, nearly 40 percent or more of the students who started as freshmen have disappeared before graduation day, a trend that's affecting about 1 out of 10 public high schools statewide, a new analysis has found.

Just under 70 Ohio high schools have rates of retention that are so low that they could be nicknamed "dropout factories," according to a Johns Hopkins University analysis of education data for the Associated Press. That description fits 12 percent of all high schools in America.

"There's too many kids leaving school," said Julian Garcia, 18, a senior at Northland High School in Columbus. "More people are missing; you can tell people are dropping out."

A "dropout factory" is defined in the analysis as one where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to the analysis, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

But the Ohio schools' graduation rates, as calculated by the individual districts and the state using a different method, aren't as dire as those found in the Johns Hopkins' analysis. For example, 11 of the 19 central Ohio schools defined as dropout factories in the Johns Hopkins study showed graduation rates of at least 75 percent during the period studied, state data show. Centennial High, in fact, showed a 95.6 percent graduation rate in 2005-06.

State and local school officials say transfers and losses to charter schools can skew the numbers.

But Bob Balfanz, the researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said that while some of the missing students nationally transferred, most dropped out. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row -- 2004, 2005 and 2006 -- to make sure local events like plant closures weren't to blame for low retention rates.

As Ohio high-school seniors say they've spent the past four years watching their class sizes shrink, state school districts are scrambling to combat the dropout rates and help students graduate.

The highest concentration of dropout factories is in the state's large cities, including 14 of 17 high schools in the Columbus district, seven of 17 in Cincinnati, seven of 16 in Cleveland and six of seven in Toledo. Many have high proportions of minority students and students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Students in these schools face extra challenges to remain in school and graduate.

Many students leave school because their family needs them to find a job and earn money, or because they're going to have a baby, said Jeff Morrer, 17, a Northland High junior. Others are fed up with rules and homework.

"They get suspended and then just say 'forget it' and never come back," said Jameela Ragland, 17, a Northland junior. "School's just not for them, I guess."

Unlike the Johns Hopkins analysis, Ohio uses a different method of tracking retention in public high schools, said Karla Carruthers, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. The data submitted to the state by individual school districts track kids through a "cohort" system which accounts for some mobility among students, such as students moving to another district or a nonpublic high school within the same district, she said.

To increase the accuracy of the data, Ohio is moving to a system that tracks individual students through an identification number, she said. The first figures from data recorded in this way will be available next year.

In some cases, extenuating circumstances make the dropout numbers appear slightly misleading. For example, Pickerington Central High School appears to have a low rate of student retention, but the new Pickerington North High School, opened in 2003, absorbed about half the 2006 class when they were sophomores.

Also, in the past five years, many school districts have experienced a decline in enrollment because of the opening of charter schools, Carruthers said. In Columbus alone, there were 770 students enrolled in charter schools in 2005. Last year, more than 8,500 students in the district attended the alternative schools.

Cincinnati is working to pinpoint the needs of students at risk of dropping out, said Janet Walsh, the district's director of public affairs. By trying to address individual social and emotional factors for dropping out, public schools have significantly boosted graduation rates over the past several years, she said.

Some schools are offering after-school help or new instruction methods that focus on helping students catch up on credits if they've fallen behind.

"One dropout is one too many; that's the way we look at it," Walsh said.

Columbus City Schools also are trying a number of approaches to boost retention and graduation rates, district spokesman Jeff Warner said. The city is growing its mentoring program for eighth- and ninth-graders, designed to help motivate freshmen and inspire them to stay in school. Schools also are experimenting with alternate discipline systems to keep kids engaged in school when they are suspended so they do not simply drift away, he said.

Nationally, the highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones -- the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services.

Utah, which has lower poverty rates and fewer minorities than most states, is the only state without a dropout factory. Florida and South Carolina have the highest percentages. About half of the high schools in those states classify as dropout factories.

Dispatch assistant city editor Rob Messinger contributed to this story.

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